Wednesday, July 5, 2017

More Kyrgyz Now Work in Russia than in Bishkek and Osh Combined

Paul
Goble

Staunton, July 5 – Migration is
changing the face not only of Russia but of many of Russia’s neighbors, with
Kyrgyzstan offering what officials describe as truly “horrifying” statistics in
this regard. At present, they say, more Kyrgyz are working in Russia than in
the cities of Bishkek and Osh combined.

Annually, official
statistics show, Kyrgyz working in Russia send home approximately two billion
US dollars. That figure is equal to 30 percent of the country’s GDP. Moreover,
it works out to 3300 US dollars per gastarbeiter in Russia – or 280 US dollars
a month – a figure that compared with a GDP per capita in Kyrgyzstan of about
1100 US dollars.

After Kyrgyzstan joined the Eurasian
Economic Community, the number of migrants leaving the country to work in the
Russian Federation increased and is now running at approximately 50,000 new
departures every year. As a result, there will be a million Kyrgyz working in
Russia by 2024 if not earlier.

And that in turn means that
Kyrgyzstan will be on its way to surpass Tajikistan in supplying gastarbeiters
to Russia. The latter country now has the larger share of its population there,
and its remittances home amount to 42 percent of Tajikistan’s GDP, making it
the largest recipient of such funds in the world.

The impact of
gastarbeiter experiences in Russia is mixed. On the one hand, many of them may
feel more integrated with Russia and some may even choose to become Russian
citizens. But on the other, the widespread xenophobia Russians show to Central
Asian gastarbeiters may deepen divisions, however much Bishkek may depend on
these remittances.